News

2013-05-16

AFRICA/NIGERIA - The Secretary of CAN in Borno killed, shortly after the declaration of a state of emergency

Abuja (Agenzia Fides) - The Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN, an association that brings together the leading Nigerian Christian denominations including the Catholic Church) in Borno State (in the north-eastern Nigeria), Pentecostal Rev. Faye Pama Musa, was killed in the capital, in Maiduguri, by members of the Islamist sect Boko Haram, shortly after President Goodluck Jonathan had declared a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa (see Fides 15/05/2013).
According to a first reconstruction of the facts, killers entered the home of the religious leader and killed him in front of his family members.
Fighter planes are also heading towards the north-east, which suggests that the Nigerian Air Force is about to hit targets on its own territory. In Maiduguri the influx of new military reinforcements was welcomed in an atmosphere of tension, with schools and many businesses closed.
According to the National President of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP, the ruling party), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, the decision to impose a state of emergency was taken to prevent "terrorists" from proclaiming the secession of the north-east and the creation of their own State. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 16/05/2013)